Where’s my 5.7% raise? – 2011 Budget Released by White House

Cat people are becoming Dog People. Liberals are sounding like conservatives. Liberals are even budgeting like conservatives. What’s going on with this crazy world? I am probably the only geek in the world that gets excited by the release of the President’s Budget. I downloaded it, and I’m reading through it now. I encourage you to watch the video above, and listen to our show to get more info.

I’ll save my analysis and judgments for the next episode of our show, which we will be doing later this week, but I am struck by one thing: this budget offers me the opportunity to have my ice cream along with my spinach…meaning, it appears that there are a lot of cuts in programs (spinach) — but there are no cuts in military spending, and the overall budget increases spending by 5.7% (ice cream). The communications promise belt tightening down the road, with across the board freezes coming in the “out years” of the budget, but this year we’re looking at a $3.8 trillion budget, which represents a 5.7% increase in federal spending, along with an increase in the size of the deficit and debt. Increases in military spending, cuts in federal programs…

Is this Progressive budgeting? Or do we find ourselves back in the Reagan/Bush era? Does this mean that working people are going to see their wages rise by 5.7%? I understand the concept of deficit spending, but that doesn’t mean the federal budget has to increase at such a high rate. There are other ways we can spend our way out of this recession, grow the economy, create jobs, continue to fight Al Queda and still live within our means. These concepts don’t need to be mutually exclusive. And if we’re going to ask Americans to live within their means during this difficult time, then the federal government should hold itself to the same standard. This from a Progressive Democrat.